Spain: RTVE agrees to hold four editions of Benidorm Festival; Music Group of Experts selected

Spain: RTVE agrees to hold four editions of Benidorm Festival; Music Group of Experts selected
Friday, 05 November 2021

  • The Spanish national broadcaster has agreed to four years of editions for Benidorm Festival, while the Group of Experts to contribute in the selection of the national finalists has been determined. 

    The Spanish national broadcaster, RTVE, had announced back in July that it will be switching to a new national selection format that will take place in Benidorm. In order to carry out the selection,  RTVE has reached agreements and teamed up with the Generalitat Valenciana and the Benidorm City Council. 

    While submissions are still underway for the festival RTVE has come to an agreement with the Generalitat Valenciana to hold the music festival for four editions. This means that we will see Benidorm Festival take place in 2022 and will continue each year up to 2026. 

    The news came out at the conference ‘Eurovisión, el festival que quieres’ RTVE  while during the panel's discussion it was metioned that the full results of the competition may not be released with only the winner announced. This aims to ease the situtation for the other contestants and encourages acts to take part without concerning about their final finishing position in the final show. 

     

     

    Music Group of Experts

    Meanwhile the Spanish broadcaster has determined the Experts of the Music Group that will give a hand to the Eurovision Committee to assess the submissions for Benidorm 2022 and shorlist the competing acts. Namely the three members to make up the group are  Tony Sanchez Ohlsson , Zahara and J Cruz.

    Tony Sanchez Ohlsson is an established producer, no stranger to the Eurovision Community, as he has signed the composition or lyrics of several Spanish ESC entries  (DNASH  2007,  Pastora Soler 2012, Edurne 2015). In addition he has taking part in a number of national finals finishing as runner up composer in a significant number of finals among which Coral in 2008 and 2010 and Brequette in 2014.

     

    Zahara has more than 20 years of musical career, with  six published albums and three books , as well as extensive experience on television in programs such as  Likes ,  Songs that changed the world ,  Historia una Canción  and  Operación Triunfo . She is mostly known as an Indie singer who after establishing her own record label has released the works  Santa  (2015) and  Astronauta  (2018); the latter produced by the British  Matthew Twaites . Zahara takes advantage of the forced  break in 2020  to compose his latest album,  PUTA.  The Andalusian is not only one of the most listened to singers and composers in Spain, but her success also extends to Latin America. 

     

    Carlos José Montado Cruz  (Puebla de Guzmán, Huelva) is the name behind  J Cruz  At the age of 13 he wrote his first songs and, at 18, he traveled to Colombia to sign his first record contract. He returns to Madrid where he  he coincided with Omar Montes and together they began to work on his career creating the  artist's first  hits . He also wrote the Nyno Vargas song  "Hola Nena" .In 2019, his career had a turning point with the  bopazo  "Alocao" , performed by  Omar Montes  and  Bad Gyal . He has broken all  records,  getting  13 platinum records  and has collaborated with artists such as  RVFV, Nyno Vargas, Ñengo Flow, Mariah Angeliq, Ana Mena, Lérica, Rasel  and  Robledo,  among others. During confinement he experimented with  punk  and, in late 2020, released his first  singles  to further his solo career. "Me Disparé",  with Samuraï, is his latest collaboration.

     

     

    'Festival Internacional de la Canción de Benidorm 2022

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    A total of 12 candidates will take part in the Benidorm Fest 2022. The event will consist of  two semifinals and one final,  the public and a jury of experts (national and international)  will choose the winner by contributing 50% each to the result. 

    Two semi-finals will be held with six contestants each. The public ( 25% televoting and 25% ' demoscopic' jury ) and the jury ( 60% national and 40% international ) will choose the finalists (the three most voted entries of each round).

    Thus, in the Grand  final show there will be six contestants, one of which will be selected as the country's next Eurovision representative in Italy next May. 

     

     

    Spain in Eurovision

    Spain participated for the first time in 1961 with Conchita Bautista and has achieved twice to win, in 1968 (Massiel) and in 1969 (Salome). Madrid hosted the contest in 1969 where there was a four country tie in the first place on the final scoreboard.

    Despite not having missed a single contest since 1961 , Spain doesn’t have remarkable results to show the latest years. Exception was Anabel Conde’s 2nd place in  Eurovision 1995 held in Dublin. Spain has came in history 2nd four times ( 1971, 1973, 1979, 1995) while it has finished last 5 times (1962, 1965, 1983, 1999, 2017) from which the first three receiving null points.

    Miki represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with the song “La venda”. The singer  in 22nd place with a total of 54 points. In 2020  Blas Cantó was chosen internally to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020, with the song “Universo”: Unfortunately the contest was cancelled due to the covid-19 pandemic and Blas never had the chance to perform in Rotterdam.

    However, TVE, invited the Spanish act back for Eurovision 2021 where he performed his entry "Voy e Quedarme" at Rotterdam Ahoy in the Grand final, finishing 24th with 6 points. 

     

    News Source: RTVE / Eurovision Spain

    Images: RTVE